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Mirror Mirror
Mirror Mirror is a fourth season episode of House which first aired on October 30, 2007. A man without identification is found collapsed on the street after a 911 call. At first, he presents with a number of symptoms that make the team think he’s faking until one life-threatening symptom which can’t possibly be faked suddenly jumps out of the pack. House soon realizes that damage to the patient’s frontal lobe has made him incapable of asserting his own personality or identity, and the patient is soon mirroring the personality of the most dominant person in the room. The team searches desperately for clues as to the patient’s identity to try to improve his medical history, which appears to be the key to diagnosing his illness. In the meantime, they each gain insights into their own personality, but only one of the fellows takes the insights to heart enough to change their entire attitude about working with House. In the middle of this, Chase starts making book about which fellowship applicant will be the next to get the axe. Recap Two young men plan a mugging, but when they approach their intended victim, he insults them. They then threaten him and the victim starts coughing and collapses on the street. They steal his wallet. One of the criminals calls 911 for an ambulance before they flee the scene. House meets with the applicants, who start suggesting diagnoses for the mugging victim. Cuddy and Foreman come in - Foreman has been re-hired. Cuddy insists he be added to keep an eye on House. House orders a methacholine challenge to see why the patient is having difficulty breathing. Foreman apologizes for Cuddy humiliating House, but House knows why she did it. House says he's going to make Foreman quit again by making him miserable, but Foreman says he won't quit because he’s already miserable. The applicants put the patient on a treadmill, but he starts having pain in his stomach and can't complete the test. The applicants find out Chase is running a betting pool on them. Amber is the early favorite to be fired. She and Kutner start betting heavily on each other. Foreman is leading a differential with the applicants when House comes in. House reminds Foreman he quit because he didn't want to become like House. He asks Foreman why he came back. House is paged and announces to the room that the patient has crashed and the applicants leave. After the applicants leave, Foreman admits no-one will hire him because they think he's as dangerous as House. Foreman wants to quit, but he can't find a job. The applicants discuss how to treat the patient. House comes by and tells Foreman that he will make Cuddy miserable instead. Foreman thinks it is Munchausen syndrome - the patient's name is identical to the EMT who brought him in, and the patient’s symptoms match those of the patients in neighboring rooms. However, given the same information, House thinks it is Giovannini Mirror Syndrome - a disease where the brain picks up clues from the surroundings because the patient has brain damage and has no sense of self. To settle the argument between them, House proposes a test. House takes the patient into an operating room. The patient can't answer questions about himself. Wilson tells House to stop making power plays. He thinks House is threatened by Foreman and afraid of Cuddy. The patient starts acting like Wilson, confirming House's suspicions. They then find out that the patient's blood has started to congeal. He needs to be heated to keep his blood flowing. House points out to Foreman that the patient can't possibly be faking the symptom. House starts talking to the applicants about Giovaninni mirror syndrome. They start talking about why his blood congealed with the cold. The only answer appears to be an infection, but several infections have that symptom. The applicants start talking about how to do tests. At that point, House tells the cafeteria they have food poisoning and tells them to go to the clinic. Foreman tells them that House is lying, but House tells them that Foreman only has a mail-order medical degree. The people in the cafeteria head out, and House sends his applicants off to do tests. He sends Cole to find the car, but Thirteen volunteers to go with him. House comments sarcastically that they have a love connection, and leaves. Amber finds a way to draw blood from the patient. The patient starts acting like her- he says that if nobody likes you, you always have to be right, otherwise you’re worth nothing. Taub does an ultrasound, and the patient starts acting like he wants to have sex with Amber. Taub says that he's married, and that Amber is a little too aggressive, but the patient says he’s married too and that aggressive is never a bad thing. Taub find a lesion on the liver. House and Wilson discuss the lesion. Wilson is making fun of House because the patient was mirroring him instead of House- mirror syndrome patients mirror who they think is in charge. House tries to counter the comment by saying that since Wilson was the surgeon, he was in charge, but Wilson teases him by saying that House would pick up his laundry if Wilson asked him. House tells him to ask, but Wilson says he‘s not that cruel. They enter the main room where House lectures his applicants, but there's nobody there. They wrote the word 'Clinic' on the whiteboard backwards as a clue. House goes to the clinic to get his applicants, but Cuddy keeps them there to deal with House's lie about food poisoning. House starts going around to his applicants, and asks them for ideas. He finally orders a liver biopsy. He gets back at Cuddy again by ordering expensive tests for the uninsured patients. Brennan is doing tests when the patient starts acting like he doesn't want to be working in a hospital. He finds that the patient may have pus from a fungus. He orders treatment for it. House asks why he let Amber administer the drug. Brennan did it because he thinks House will eventually let him go. House reminds him that he has to stick around even though he really wants to work in the third world. House tells him that he's a good doctor and should stay. Brennan instead says he will leave in an hour when the patient is better. Amber and Kutner once again find the patient's blood has started congealing. The patient needs to be reheated and they put him in a whirlpool bath. It turns out the fungus diagnosis was incorrect - the pus was really coagulated blood. They start talking about diagnoses. Antibiotics aren‘t working, so Foreman figures it has to be viral or an exotic bacteria. House wants to do a medical history despite the patient not remembering who he is. House calls Thirteen and Cole have found the patient's car, but it is behind a locked fence with two angry dogs. When House asks them what's taking so long, Thirteen says that the car was towed and the yard's locked - they can't get the key. House responds that it's why he sent two of them - one breaks in, the other posts bail. When Thirteen says that getting arrested isn't what she's worried about, House says, "Not a problem. You know how to kill dogs, right?" and hangs up. He then orders the team to test the patient for antibodies because what diseases he has might point to where he‘s been. The applicants go to run the tests. However, Foreman says he hasn't signed off on it. The applicants ignore him. Taub apologizes to Foreman for the way they are treating him, but Taub figures either Foreman or Cuddy will give in. Foreman goes to see Cameron - the odds on Foreman are even, but Cameron has bet in his favor. She reminds Foreman that he loves his job and, even though the job is crazy, he should keep doing it. Foreman tells her she’s wrong, but she tells him he belongs with House. Kutner does a lumbar puncture for the antibody test. When Kutner tells the patient that drawing the cerebro-spinal fluid might hurt, the patient tells him to bring the pain. Kutner says he isn't a masochist- he merely likes new experiences. The patient says that he doesn't just like new, he has to have new- if he acts like everyone else, then he's not an individual anymore. Then the patient comments that he likes hot tubs. Wilson finds Cuddy trying to prank House by replacing the Vicodin with laxatives. Wilson tells her to make House think he has beaten her. He finds out Cuddy has already pranked House somewhere else. They start talking about where patient might be from based on his antibody tests, but Foreman belittles the clues. They are still having problems keeping the patient warm enough, so House orders a procedure that could give him a severe fever. He goes to Cuddy for approval when Foreman objects. She pretends to object and then give in, but House realizes its a trick and says he still doesn‘t want Foreman. He also says he can tell the difference between Vicodin and other pills and threatens to replace her contraceptive pills. He says he wants Foreman gone. Foreman starts to induce the fever, and, like Foreman, the patient starts expressing both doubt and excitement- he says that although Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital doesn‘t work the way it‘s supposed to work, he's happy. All of a sudden, the patient collapses and goes into cardiac arrest. They have to get him out of the water and dry him off to defibrillate him. Once again, Kutner is quick with the defibrillators. He resuscitates the patient, but electrocutes himself. Kutner recovers, and House compliments him on saving the patient, and then calls him insane. Foreman starts discussing whether to biopsy the patient's heart and when he makes a Houseism about it, House agrees to the procedure. House tells Foreman he has found him a job in Boston, but Foreman turns it down and starts smiling. House is upset and tells him to do the biopsy himself. Thirteen and Cole find out who the patient is, but there is no useful information apart from the patient's name. House is annoyed that they spent so long finding the car when they barely found anything useful, and asks Thirteen why she went with Cole. He thinks that Thirteen didn't want to have the patient mirror her, and decides to make her do the heart biopsy instead. House tells Foreman that he and Thirteen will do the biopsy and Foreman leaves. House makes Thirteen do the biopsy. The patient starts acting like House, making sexual comments about how hot Thirteen is, but House tries to pretend that she's his boss. After the patient says, "This is so frustrating," Thirteen says that she doesn't think he's mirroring her, and House realizes that he has to leave, since the patient won't mirror Thirteen while he's there. After House leaves and Thirteen completes the biopsy, the patient starts acting like he is very scared. Thirteen tries to reassure him by saying "It's OK. It's going to be OK," and the patient responds with, "No. No, it's not." House tries to get Kutner to go in to see what the patient says about Thirteen. He threatens to fire Kutner if he doesn't, but before Kutner can, Thirteen walks out. House asks her how the patient is, and Thirteen says that his fever's at 106. House cuts her off and how the patient was when he mirrored her, and she says sarcastically that 'He's delightful- loves the smell of freshly baked rhubarb pie and isn't afraid to love.' Then she follows it with, "Also, his rash is coming back.' Kutner says that the patient needs the meds and the hot tub to keep him stable. House agrees, and Kutner makes a comment about how the patient will be happy- he loves hot tubs. House thinks that Kutner likes hot tubs and the patient was mirroring him, but Kutner mutters that he hates hot tubs. Once they've established that no one else was there, House is angry that Kutner didn't mention it, but Kutner says that he didn't think it was relevant. House says that they need to 'splash him some more', meaning they need to jog his memory. House goes to see the patient dressed in the patient's clothes with the patient's belongings. He's pretending to be the patient. The patient starts acting like himself and starts remembering things. The patient is on the road a lot. The patient uses mentholated petroleum jelly by spreading it on his nostrils to distract from the smell of manure when he is in his car. House comes in. He announces the patient is a farm equipment salesman and merely needs narrow-spectrum antibiotics to cure him of an uncommon infection that can be caught from pigs - eperythrozoon. They go to give the patient the treatment, but Foreman has an idea. He puts House and Cuddy in the room with the patient to see who is dominant. The patient starts acting like House - he makes a comment about Cuddy's breasts. House tells the applicants they all suck - they all made mistakes. However, House decides not to fire anyone. Foreman asks why he didn't fire anyone or even let Brennan quit. House says they are all good doctors. However, Foreman realizes that because none of them got fired, they all lost their bets to Chase - House got 50% of the take by fixing the results. However, House notes something else - all of the applicants and Foreman got insights into their personality from the patient, but Foreman is the only one who took advantage of that insight. Major Events *Foreman returns to the hospital to help House with the remaining applicants. He then tells House that while he'd like to quit working at PPTH, he can't because the medical world thinks that House has corrupted him so as a result, no-one's willing to hire him. However by the end of the episode, Foreman changes his mind and decides to stay on permanently. *Chase starts a betting pool to see which of the fellows will be the next one to get fired. *Kutner uses the defibrillation paddles again but ends up knocking himself out as a result. *None of the fellows get fired or quit and Chase wins the entire pool, but lets House in for fifty percent of the winnings because he worked not to fire anyone or let anyone quit. *The patient begins mirroring all the fellows except for Cole. *It's implied that Wilson is more dominant than House. *In the end, it's shown that House is probably more dominant than Cuddy. Zebra Factor 8/10 Although eperythrozoon is common in the environment and is common in animals like pigs, it is rarer in humans. Most infections in humans are mild and show no symptoms. Trivia & Cultural References *The title is a reference to the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was the question the evil Queen asked the Mirror: “Mirror Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all.” *Although traditionally made Mayonnaise can harbor salmonella and other food borne toxins, commercially prepared Mayonnaise actually extends the shelf life of food because of its high acid content. Food poisoning from commercially prepared mayonnaise is very rare. *The Osmonds were a singing group made up of the brothers and one sister of a very large Mormon family. They were popular from the 1960s to the 1980s and during their prime were one of the best selling recording artists and concert acts of their day. *The age of consent in Italy is sixteen. It’s suicide rate in 2007 was actually on the low side, lower than Spain, but higher than the United Kingdom at 7.1 persons per 100,000. *The reference to Michael Moore being right is about Moore’s documentary Sicko about the lack of universal health coverage in the United States. *Tonya Harding is an infamous female figure skater who was found to have arranged an injury to her primary rival Nancy Kerrigan just prior to the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. *Weehawken is a small town in New Jersey right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. *When Kutner and Amber are with the mirror patient as his blood starts congealing again, Kutner assumes he's mimicking whichever one of them happens to be dying; surprisingly, Amber dies at the end of the fourth season and Kutner dies later near the end of the fifth season. Music *"We're Going To Be Friends" by The White Stripes (at the end of the episode) Continuity Errors *House treats Foreman like an idiot after he tries to confirm that House is talking about "Giovanni Mirror Syndrome" and House counters by asking what other kinds of "Mirror Syndrome" there are. Of course, the previous year, they treated a case of Maternal mirror syndrome. Reviews *IMDB users rated the episode a 9.0 with 44.8% of users rating it a 10 Medical Ethics Goofs *On the big whiteboard showing patients' status, nausea is misspelled "nauseau" for the listing for room 404 and for room 407 the symptom is "difficult breathing" instead of "difficulty breathing" or, more properly, respiratory distress. *When Foreman points out that their patient, who is going by the name "Martin Harris" is copying symptoms from the neighbouring patients on the whiteboard, the initials "MH", which would identify the patient on the whiteboard, are no-where to be seen. Quotes Cast *Hugh Laurie as Gregory House *Lisa Edelstein as Lisa Cuddy *Omar Epps as Eric Foreman *Robert Sean Leonard as James Wilson *Jennifer Morrison as Allison Cameron *Jesse Spencer as Robert Chase *Anne Dudek as Amber Volakis *Edi Gathegi as Jeffrey Cole *Peter Jacobson as Chris Taub *Kal Penn as Lawrence Kutner *Olivia Wilde as Thirteen *Andy Comeau as Travis Brennan *Frank Whaley as Mr. X *Luke Bayback as Tony *Brendan Michael Coughlin as Mickey *Bobbin Bergstrom as Nurse Release Dates *United States - October 30, 2007 on Fox *Canada - October 30, 2007 on Global *Australia - October 31, 2007 *Germany - September 23, 2008 *Hungary - September 24, 2008 *Belgium - March 15, 2009 In Other Languages *'''German - '''Spieglein, Speiglein (literal translation) Links *Episode page at IMDB *Episode article at Wikipedia *A review of the medicine at Polite Dissent *Episode page at TV.com *Episode page at House MD Guide *Episode transcript at Clinic Duty *Episode transcript at Blogcritics *Episode page at Movie Mistakes *Music from the episode at Heard on TV *Episode photos at Housecaps *Episode review by ArgumentativeSingaporean *Episode review at IGN *Episode photos at Dr. Greg House.com *Episode guide at USA Network *A review of the doctors' performances at House Performance Reviews *Episode article at The TVIV Video de:Spieglein, Spieglein… Category:Episodes Category:Season 4 Category:Zebra Factor 8